Escape From Pain
by Sailor Red
Summary: Hitomi goes back to Gaea....
1. Default Chapter

Ohayo, minna! How are you doing? Well it took me forever to get  
back into writing...but I'm going to college in the fall and really  
need the practice. So I'm back from my hiatus to write again!  
It's an escaflowne fic! Yay! I've wanted to write one forever...  
Well, Enjoy!  
  
Escape From Pain   
by Sailor Red  
Discalmer: Escaflowne does not belong to me. Suing me is not cool,  
number one, and two, I work at a DONUT SHOP...so all ya'd get is   
a coffee and a bagel...no cream cheese...I'm cheap.   
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
It had become painfully evident that Hitomi would never be   
able to go back. Her encounter four years ago with strange people   
and a war torn world could never again be repeated. Not that she   
wanted to find that place in such chaos ever again, but the people   
who had throughly changed her life were people she could not forget.   
She missed them terribly. The swordsman who loved her most of all.  
She had become horribly lonely lately. Her best friend had   
married her boyfriend a month ago and had since moved to America...  
the man who could have been hers if she hadn't have played the   
tragic heroine. Not that she wanted him. There was someone she  
loved far more than him, however she had given that man up as well.  
He had told her she could stay. It would be "all right"   
with him if she stayed in his country and didn't go back to Tokyo.  
However, she missed her family, her friends, her world. Now that   
Hitomi was in college, her family seen only on major holidays, and   
her best friend, Yukari, happily married to Amano-sempai and living   
in some strange place called New England, she was lonely. She did  
not want to be here. She wished she was there, that that blessed  
beam of light would fly her back to Gaea, back to her friends:   
Merle, Millerna, Allen...and Van. Van she wanted to see again most  
of all.  
She found herself pondering the likelyhood of ever getting   
back. She figured that there had to be only a slim chance of doing   
so. It had to be possible; she knew that anything and everything   
was. Most likely, it would be more difficult, as she no longer   
possessed her pendant. Yet if "Isaac" could do it without a medium,  
she could as well. She just hoped she would't have to be on her   
deathbed to do it.  
How? Suddenly an idea crossed her mind. Her tarot cards.  
Maybe they could give her the answer. She walked to her closet,   
opened it and pulled out an old shoebox. Inside were notes written  
in between Yukari and herself, pictures from highschool, and of   
course, her tarot cards. She smiled when she saw the familiar deck:  
blue background, and on the foreground, an orange shaded penticle.  
The cards almost seemed to dare her to pick them up and use them;  
she had told everyone, including herself that she never would again.  
She hesitated for only a moment, then brought them to her   
desk, shuffling them and placing them down in the familiar Celtic  
Cross spread. She studied them carefully. It was hard to do a   
reading on herself. One tended to confuse what one wanted the cards  
to say with what the cards actually said.   
She didn't get very far into the reading when she was   
interupted by a vision. Her grandmother was staring at her.   
"My, how you've grown, Hitomi!" The woman smiled. Hitomi   
was frozen in shock. "So you want to go back to Gaea, my dear? I   
believe you already know how!"  
"Demo, obaa-chan! I gave your pendant to Van!"   
"There is always more than one way to solve a problem, Hitomi.   
It's just that most people don't want to step outside of tradition,   
because they're used to the old ways. You don't need that pendant   
anymore. Do you understand yet? It's just like dowsing..."   
Hitomi's eyes lit up.  
"You mean? Is it that simple?" Hitomi's grandmother smiled   
and faded away. "Arigatou, Obaa-chan." Hitomi grinned. She   
understood. It was so easy! She herself had told Van how to do this   
at one time...  
With practice in dowsing, after a while, you don't need the   
pendant anymore, but you could still use the ability you practiced   
with it. She had learned to find things and find her way through   
things doing this before. So all she had to do was picture the   
pendant and wish to be in Gaea...and she'd get there! So easy, and   
yet it had taken her so long to figure it out! She ran to her closet   
and grabbed her duffel bag to throw some clothes in. She also packed   
pictures of her friends and family. She didn't think she was going   
to come back this time. She hoped she wouldn't have to.   
Closing her eyes, she tried to envision the pendant. It   
was like riding a bicycle...she got the image in her mind's eye  
almost right away. Gaea, Austuria, Fanelia, Merle, Millerna,   
Celena, Allen, Van. She let pictures of familiar faces and places   
dance under closed eyelids. She slowly felt a warmth around her,  
and opened her eyes. She was bathed in light.  
  
She was going back.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Lightning struck, rain fell, winds blew cruelly battering trees.  
In the midst of the storm, a single beam of light was left unnoticed.  
Hitomi grimmiced when she touched down, instantly soaked to the bone.  
"MO!" she yelled in aggravation. She looked around for shelter,  
but there didn't seem to be any in sight. There came a voice.  
"Who's there?" A familiar voice...one in which Hitomi could not  
place. "I asked you a question!!" The voice yelled. "Who's there?!" Now  
the feminine voice growled. Hitomi took a step back, ready to run if  
need be. The person to whom the voice belonged stepped out, fur  
standing up on end. Fur? Now that she could see the woman more clearly,  
she could note her cat-like features. Could it be? The woman was taller  
than she remembered...but it had been a few years...and Hitomi herself  
had grown....  
"Merle?" The woman's eyes narrowed.  
"What? How did you... who are you?!" Hitomi smiled at Merle's confusion  
and stepped forward. Merle jumped back in shock. Tears started forming  
at the corner of her eyes.   
"Hitomi? Hitomi? Oh, Thank GOD! Thank god you've come back!!!" The cat  
girl started wailing.  
"Merle, What's wrong?" Merle suddenly stopped crying. Fear lit her  
eyes.  
"Hitomi." She whispered. "Walk slowly behind these bushes. Move it!"  
"Nani?"  
"Just do it, quick, before they see us!" Merle whispered fervently, as   
both of them slipped behind the shrubs. "Now be quiet!"  
----  
"She went in here!" Came a voice.  
"Hurry! If the boss finds out we let one of the King's advisors get  
out of Fanelia, we'll be better off dead!"  
"If that stupid cat girl gets to Austuria and finds the boss..."  
"BAKA! What if she hears you?!"  
"She's probably long gone by now, anyway."  
"We HAVE to find her. Let's go!!"  
----  
"So I was right." Merle said. "Their leader is in Austuria."  
"Merle, what's going on?"   
"I'll tell you later. Right now we have to get out of this rain." she  
motioned to Hitomi. "Let's go." Merle jumped onto all fours and started  
running. Hitomi sprinted after her. They ran through the thistle and   
low growing branches ignoring all of the scratches that they were   
getting as they ran through their natural obsticles. When they got to   
a cave, Merle stopped. "This must be it." Merle told Hitomi, motioning  
her to go with her inside of the shelter. "Ruhm told me about this place  
about a month ago. It's not on any maps and it's a pain in the butt to  
get to, so nobody really knows about it. It's the safest place right   
now." She sighed and looked at all the injurys she and Hitomi had  
gotten in their run. "Good thing I brought my first aid stuff." She  
threw some antiseptic to Hitomi, who caught it, and stared at her.  
"Alright, Merle, can I get some answers now?"   
"Yeah." The cat girl sighed and sat down on a rock.  
"Okay, first off, you seemed a little TOO happy to see me. Plus those  
people...what were they talking about?"  
"Here goes. Listen up, ya freaky foreigner, 'cause I'm only gonna  
explain this once." Hitomi threw the antiseptic bottle at Merle's   
head.   
"Baka neko!" Merle laughed.  
"Watch it Hitomi-chan, or you're gonna need that bottle again." Hitomi  
sighed and sat down on the ground. "Here goes. About a week after we   
got Fanelia up and running again, people came there to live. Everything's   
fine and wonderful. Then we get what seems to be mini civil wars. People  
are fighting over the stupidest things. However, what Van-sama and I   
found out...was that those incidents were only skin deep. There was a   
bigger plot behind it. Ya see, some of the people who moved in were   
former residents of the Zaibach empire, and had a grudge against   
Van-sama. They were trying to destroy Fanelia from the inside. After   
the war, they didn't have much in the way of military power, so this   
was the only way that they could do it. Inside information told us   
that the one pulling the strings was in Austuria. So that's where I'm  
going." Hitomi gulped.  
"Why isn't Van with you?" Merle shifted in discomfort.  
"You know, this rock isn't exactly soft, is it? I think I'll go sit  
on my bag..."  
"Merle?! Why are you avoiding the question?"  
"Van-sama's sick." Hitomi felt her heart stop.  
"What do you mean 'sick'?"  
"About a week ago, Van-sama started complaining about a pain in his   
side. The doctors checked it out, and couldn't find anything wrong.   
Then all of a sudden he passed out. He hasn't woken up in weeks. The  
doctors...they can't..." Merle started crying. "They can't help him."  
"Merle..." Hitomi started, but couldn't say anything as the cat girl's  
words hit her. The doctors can't help him. Which means...she started  
sobbing. "I...is Van gonna...Is Van gonna die?"  
"He...He might. Unless we...we can figure out what's going on..."  
Hitomi felt the world start to spin around her.  
  
"He might."  
  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
In the midnight shadows that crept around a beautifully adorned palace  
room, a woman sat, playing with a doll, stroking it's midnight hair.  
She laughed at the doll in her hands. She took a sewing needle, put   
the tip in the flame of the candle and poked it into the doll's side.  
  
"Moeru" She smiled. "Vaaaan!"   
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
To be Continued...  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Author's Notes:  
  
MWAHAHAHAAA!! Now, after making all of you lovely people wait so long  
for this to come out, I've decided to turn it into a multiparter.  
Why? I have no idea why! Actually, this was first a six page tiny   
fic and only had Hitomi come back and reunite with Van. But that's   
too boring. You see, this is what happens with me when I type   
something up on a typewriter or write something out on paper first  
and THEN go and type it up on a computer. For some reason my fics   
come out longer and more detailed. Plus I love putting charaters   
through bad situations. I'm evil, ne? My only exception to this   
wierd First draft second draft rule was "From Konan to the Moon"  
which ended up with a lot of plot holes because I rushed it   
at the end. Bad Sailor Red. I'll just have to think up a sequal   
to it some day. Which shouldn't be too hard, because most of it  
was psycho humor, so pulling some hairbrained scheme to start it   
up again will be a piece of cake. *sigh*  
This is a fic that I'm having quite a lot of fun with. Though it's  
not as humorous as I originally planned. Actually It's kinda dark.  
SORRY!!! I still throw humor in there. I just have to! Call it   
my Rurouni Kenshin syndrome.   
This fic is dedicated to:   
Atashi no Sensei to tomodachi(--My teacher and friend), Lianne Sentar.  
She rocks man! And it's all her fault...I mean it's thanks to her that  
i'm such a huge esca fan!! heh heh...  
Well, I'm off to go laugh at all Hotohori's funny hats in my FY manga...  
Mata ne!!  
Sailor Red  
Escaflowne belongs to a whole buncha people...um, Bandai, Sunrise...  
I'm so bad with disclaimers...This fic is copyright Sailor Red,  
August 2001. ^_^  
  



	2. Escape From Pain Part 2

Hey, Minna! Here's part two! See, I didn't keep you waiting TOO long, ne?  
  
Escape From Pain  
Part 2  
By Sailor Red  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
A scream reverberated off of castle walls. An anguished cry for help and  
then silence.   
Two guards ran into the room from which the scream came and stared upon  
their king in horror. He was shaking violently from head to toe, his   
eyes shut into tiny slits as he held his side in pain.   
"Van-sama!" The guards exclaimed, and then ran to get the doctor.  
----  
All Van could hear was her laughing. That madly kind laughter that   
he now associated with the pain in his side. That burning pain that   
had been with him for far too long. And then...  
  
Another voice.   
  
And the relief that came with it...suddenly floating around in his head.  
  
"Van." Hitomi's voice. "I'll save you."  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Hitomi finished her silent prayer and got up to wake Merle. The cat girl  
told her to get her up when Hitomi was ready to go to Austuria.   
And Hitomi was ready.   
Dear god was she ready.   
"NYAAAOO!" Merle yelled when Hitomi started poking her. "NANI?!"  
"Let's go, Merle." Merle focused her eyes, looked at Hitomi, and   
smiled.   
"Yeah. Better now then later."   
They both gathered their belongings and started to head out. All was  
quiet until Hitomi spoke up.   
"Who do you think is doing this to Van?" Merle looked down to the ground.  
"There's only a couple of leads...But they all lead up to the Austurian  
palace..."  
"Wait...The palace?! Who would want to..." Merle's head shot up to face  
Hitomi's.  
"Hey! I thought you asked me a question! Give me some time to answer it!"  
Merle growled. Hitomi looked down.  
"Gomen...it's just that...While you were sleeping, I was praying for   
Van's safety...and had a vision of him in pain...I just...I just want  
to get to the bottom of this as quickly as possible. I don't want him  
hurting anymore." Merle felt the anger leave her.  
"I should be the one apologizing. I didn't know...I didn't know you had  
seen him that way. I remember seeing him the first time it happened...  
and then seeing him collapse..." Hitomi put her hand on her friend's   
shoulder. Merle smiled at her and then put her eyes back to the road.   
She gasped.  
"Well look at that. We're here already!"  
"Nani?" Hitomi asked and then looked around. Just like Merle said, they  
were in Austuria...albiet the outskirts of the city. From where they   
stood they could clearly see the vast expanses of water throughout,   
the beautiful foiliage, and the palace in the distance.   
"It's like reliving a memory...It's the same as it was all that time   
ago!" Hitomi said, marveling at the scenery before her. Merle smiled.  
"Come on, we gotta go meet up with Allen-san..."  
"Allen-san?!"  
"Mo, what's up with you? He's the easiest way to get into the palace!"  
"It's just that...How can I say this..."  
"You're not still...hung up on him are you?"  
"No way!! It's just that...you know how Van gets all worked up about  
that guy...I mean what if he gets mad..." Merle rolled her eyes.  
"Baka. Van-sama'll understand. The reason why you're here with me is to help  
save him...he's not going to think anything of it...why would he?" She   
paused. "Why are *you* making so much of it?"  
"I don't mean to. It's just that I'm worried about doing anything to   
upset him at this point...I don't want him to get the wrong idea."  
"You worry too much." Merle said to the girl. "Van's kinda thick in the  
head, yes, but I think he pretty much gets you by now. At least as much  
as a man can really understand a woman." Hitomi laughed.  
"That's not saying much." Merle burst out laughing.   
"No, it's not." She sighed. "We should probably go find A-."  
"You found him." Came Allen's voice from behind them. Hitomi and Merle  
spun around.   
"Allen-san!" Hitomi yelled out.  
"Hi-Hitomi!!" He said in shock. "Good to see you."   
"Same here."  
"Come on, let's get you inside the palace. I'm sure Millerna would   
love to see you both. I've heard about all that's been going on in   
Fanelia...It's a shame to hear that the person behind all of this  
is from Austuria. I hope you find who's behind this soon." Hitomi   
nodded agreement. Merle had suddenly found the ground very interesting.  
"Merle's been really stingy with the details, so I don't know much.  
All I know is that there's something horribly wrong with Van, and   
I want to help." Hitomi said. Allen smiled halfheartedly.  
"I see you still..." Allen started.  
"Don't even start!" Hitomi said, rounding on him. She stopped when  
she saw the hurt look on the blonde man's face. "Gomen." He smiled.  
"All I wanted to say was that I see you still care a great deal for  
him. Sometimes absence makes people forget. And then sometimes it   
makes the heart grow fonder. I wasn't trying to say anything against  
the man."  
"Gomen, Gomen." Hitomi said and smiled. "Can we start over?"  
"Of course." Allen replied. He looked up. "We're here."  
"Merle-chan!" Millerna came running towards the gate. "Thank   
goodness you're safe! I was so worried about you when I heard you  
had run off from Fanelia! And...wait a minute...who...*Hitomi-chan*?  
Masaka!!" Hitomi smiled and waved.   
"Yeah, it's me. How are you, Millerna-san?"  
"Forget me! When'd you get back?!"  
"She popped up when I was midway between Fanelia and Austuria. Scared  
me to death too. I thought one of the guards had caught up to me."   
Merle answered.   
"You poor things. Let me get a room set up for you so you can rest,   
and then you can fill me in on the details, okay?" Hitomi and Merle  
nodded. "Oh, and Allen-san," Millerna smiled. "Thank you for meeting  
up with Merle."   
"Of course, hime." he said as he knelt to kiss her hand. Hitomi   
looked at Millerna mischeviously.   
"You just spoke up to get a kiss out of him, didn't you, *Hime*."  
Millerna smiled and stuck up her nose mockingly.  
"I have *no* idea what you're talking about!" And Millerna, Hitomi,  
and Merle walked into the palace, all laughing at Allen who they left  
kneeling and looking like an idiot at the front gate.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Hitomi started up to the room prepared for her, her head swimming in  
her thoughts. A flash appeared before her eyes the moment she had  
opened her door and closed it behind her. Not this again. I don't  
want to see this again! . . . wait . . . NANI KORE?!  
----  
A woman in a palace room. A woman too familiar for comfort. A woman  
who looked disturbingly like...Celena-san!!  
Celena...Celena, sticking needles through a doll. Sticking needles   
through a doll that looked like...that looked like...Van! Lightning  
streaking through a dark room, illuminating for but an instant a   
crazed look on an innocent face. A face that had developed blood  
red eyes. Dilandau taking over his female counterpart. Celena's   
soul quietly screaming as Dilandau raped her mind. As Dilandau   
forced her to stick pin after heated pin into her doll. A doll that  
looked like Van. A doll that...  
----  
Hitomi stood up and screamed, sobs racking her body. A second later,   
Merle rushed into the room to find Hitomi curled up into a ball,   
lying on the floor.  
"Why?" Hitomi said to the cat girl. "Why didn't you tell me...why   
didn't you TELL ME!!" Hitomi screamed. Merle stepped back.  
"Hi-Hitomi...tell you what?!"  
"Why didn't you tell me that it was Celena that was doing this   
to Van?! Why didn't you tell me that her psycho counterpart, Dilandau  
was making her do this to ... Does Allen-san know? Does...Is...?"  
"Hitomi! What in god's name are you talking about?!" Hitomi froze.  
"You mean, you didn't know who was behind this?" Merle looked  
to her feet.   
"Celena was one of my hunches, yes, but I didn't KNOW anything. Don't   
tell me..."  
"I had a vision. I had another one of those damn visions. Celena was  
poking pins into a doll that looked like Van...except it wasn't Celena  
who was doing it. Her eyes were red. I think, no, I'm sure, it's   
Dilandau. He's back, and he's forcing Celena to..." She rose to her  
feet. "We have to find her room."  
"That's easy but...how are we going to fight...I mean...If what you  
say is true, then we don't have any combat skills that could win   
up against Dilandau...Van-sama even had trouble fighting him!"   
"Then what are we going to do?! Enlist Allen-san?! He won't fight  
him. It's his sister...we'll end up fighting the two of them!"  
"I don't think it's Dilandau though, at least..."  
"What are you talking about..."  
"Hitomi, calm down and think rationally about this for a second. If  
Celena had been completely taken over by Dilandau, don't you think   
Van-sama would be dead by now?" Hitomi stopped.   
"You're right."  
"Here's some more inside information. Celena acts normally in the   
morning hours when she's surrounded by people, but at about six in  
the evening she goes into her room and tells everyone not to disturb  
her. The idiots over here have been chalking it up to her liking to  
go to bed early and nothing more."  
"When did you become the private investigator, anyway, Merle-chan?"  
"Baka. Van-sama's been in pain for months. When the doctors couldn't  
do anything for him...I did a lot of snooping around. A lot of   
evesdroping around the city. I lost track of how many times I almost  
got found out while snooping around for information. I don't want  
Van-sama to die! If nothing else, he's the closest thing I have to   
a brother. He's the only family I've got. I'm NOT going to lose him  
to some psycho who finds joy in sticking needles into him!"  
"Right. Then we wait until morning and...then what?"  
"Simple. We go into Celena's room, and get that doll."  
"Okay then. Oyasumi, Merle-chan. I'll see ya in the morning."  
"Oyasumi."  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Hitomi felt like the evening would never end. She woke up constantly  
during the night from having horrible nightmares about Van. Van   
screaming in pain. Van calling out her name. Calling for her to help  
him. Nightmares that seemed disturbingly to be like visions.  
  
I have to get that doll. I can't wait until morning!  
  
She opened the door to her room and ran straight into Merle.  
"Planning on leaving without me?" She smiled quickly and then   
turned deadly serious. "Let's go." Hitomi nodded her head.  
They both started throught the halls and eventually ended up  
in front of Celena's room. Hitomi could feel her heart beating  
in her ears. Merle opened the door, and Hitomi sliped in after  
her. Hitomi pointed to a desk.   
"Over there. That's where she was sitting." Merle nodded as both  
of them rushed over to it. Merle held back a scream. Hitomi gulped.  
"I was right. It's a voodoo doll." She said plainly. "It's a very   
good likeness too. Whoever made this...they knew what they were   
doing."  
"Damn straight I knew what I was doing." Hitomi and Merle spun   
around in fear to face crazed crimson eyes. Dilandau. Not a   
Celena-esque Dilandau, but the full fledged thing. "I didn't   
hang out with those bastard sorcerers for nothing, did I?"   
he started laughing. "That little boy there, he wrecked my face..."  
Dilandau started advancing towards Hitomi, knocking things over  
as he walked."AND he killed my FRIENDS!" He was now practically   
breathing down Hitomi's neck. Hitomi swallowed...and slapped him   
across the face. Dillandau stumbled back.  
"You know, I figured out about the voodoo doll last night, Dilly."  
"DILLY?!"  
"I also had a feeling that it wasn't going to be the easiest task  
to get you should you figure out what was going on."  
"Well, you stupid women could have been a little more quiet when you  
were talking last night, too." Dilandau smiled. "I have spys of my own  
you know. Too bad your little cat friend didn't figure that one out!"   
Hitomi ignored him and reached into her pocket.   
"You know Dilandau, I had a LOT of trouble sleeping last night. So,   
you know what I did? I took up sewing." She pulled an object out.  
"See this doll? Kinda looks like you." Dilandau started stepping back.  
"Oh, don't worry, I'm not going to hurt you! However..." she started   
tugging at the doll's clothing.  
"I'm just going to kill you." She pulled the cloth off the doll to show   
another likeness underneath. The likeness of Celena. Dilandau screamed.  
The sounds of bones crunching echoed throughout the room, and when they  
stopped, there was a very tired looking Celena unconcious on the   
floor. Hitomi ran over to Celena's desk and picked up the "Van" doll.  
It started to glow, and then faded as each one of the pins in it fell   
out and disintagrated. Hitomi breathed a sigh of relief. Merle ran  
over to her and gave her a hug.  
"We did it, Hitomi-chan!"   
"Yeah...we did. Now let's get to sleep. We'll be heading for Fanelia  
in the morning."  
"YATTA!"  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Hitomi woke to see the sun high in the sky. She flew out of bed.  
NOONTIME! Ano baka neko! Why didn't she wake me up?! Hitomi got   
dressed in record time and ran to Merle's room. She was sleeping too.  
Hitomi sighed. Okay, so we both overslept. She took a deep breath.  
"MERLE! WAKE UP!"  
"NYAAAAOOO!!! What the! Hitomi-chan, why are you waking me up?!" she  
whined and then turned over.  
"We were SUPPOSED to start towards Fanelia this morning! It's noon  
time!!"  
"Daijoubu!" Merle said with a mischivious grin on her face. "The   
moment Van-sama realized that he wasn't in pain anymore, he sent a  
message with Ruhm that he'd be in Austuria tonight!" Hitomi's face   
lit up.   
"Masaka! Why didn't you tell me..."  
"I figured you needed your sleep. I know I did. Anyway, he should..."  
"Nani?" Merle had a shocked expression on her face. "Ne, Merle-chan,  
nani?" Merle started up the biggest grin Hitomi had ever seen on the   
cat girl's face, tears started forming at the corner of her eyes as  
she pointed to a place behind Hitomi. Hitomi spun around and locked   
green eyes with brownish red.   
  
Hitomi's heart flew to the sky.  
"VAN!" Van looked like he was about to fall over in shock. He had   
known she was in Gaea somewhere but he didn't know he was going to   
run into her right now and here. Frankly, he was finding it hard to   
breathe.   
"Hitomi??" Merle ran over to Van and gave him a big hug.   
"Van-sama, don't just stand there, go give her a BIIIIIIG kiss!" Van  
turned a shade of red that Hitomi had never thought possible in a man.   
She didn't joke about it though, because she was sure her face was   
ten times redder than his. Van started scowling at the cat girl, who   
tapped him on the nose and then ran off saying something about getting  
lunch. Hitomi grinned.  
"Man, that cat has caused me So much trouble!" Hitomi said nervously.  
"Hitomi...Arigatou." Van said as he walked over to her and put his   
hands on her shoulders. Hitomi felt butterflies in her stomach.  
"For what?" she asked somewhat stupidly.  
"For saving my life again." Hitomi was having a lot of trouble with  
trying to avert her eyes from his gaze. She knew that if she looked   
into those depths for just an instant, that she was never going to be  
able to look away again.   
"Hitomi? What's wrong?" Hitomi took a deep breath and looked up at   
him. It turned out that her thinking was right on track. Now that  
she had looked, she couldn't look away.  
"I...I love you." Van laughed, the first real laugh in what had seemed  
like ages. It was the first time she had said it TO him. She had   
stated it before like she was telling herself. Van had tapped into  
her thoughts. Now she was saying it to him. Straight at him. He never  
had felt happier in his entire life.   
"I love you, too, Hitomi." Hitomi started crying. She couldn't help  
it. Her face was starting to hurt from the smile she had plastered on  
it. She jumped at him and hugged him the hardest that she could. He   
did the same. Van reached down to Hitomi's face and cupped it in his  
hand, thumb brushing away her tears.   
"I'm so glad you're okay." Hitomi whispered weakly. "I saw you...in   
all that...pain...I'm sorry it took so long for me to help you..."  
"Hitomi...don't worry about it. What matters is that everyone's okay  
now...did you know that I heard you?"  
"What?"  
"You were praying. You saw me in pain and you said 'Van, I'll save  
you.' Your voice, your promise was my escape from pain. Thought you   
might want to know that." Hitomi laughed.  
"You know, you've gotten a lot better at expressing yourself than you  
used to."  
"Have I?"  
"Yeah." she smiled. "Ne, Van..." she started in a mock serious tone.  
"Yeah?"  
"Did I ever tell you how great you are?" Van smiled.  
"Nope." Hitomi looked down, shook her head, and looked up again. She   
tilted her head and smiled mischiviously.   
"Well, I'm not GOING to tell you."  
"Huh?"  
"I'm going to show you."   
.  
And she tickled him to the floor.   
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
THE END  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Okay, minna, don't kill me. I didn't do the kissy thing. HOWEVER,   
I left it wide open for a sequal. If I'm so inclined to write one.   
Van: You better, or I'm going to get the Seki-gumi after you.  
Red: Seki-gumi?  
Chichiri: Yes, Van needs his kiss, no da!  
Kamui: I'll blow you up!  
Koji: I'll sick the Mt. Reikaku bandits on you!  
Red: Alright! Alright! *mutters* I'll think about it!  
Van: Good  
  
Mata ne!  
Sailor Red  
Escaflowne belongs to Bandai/Sunrise. Chichiri and Koji are from  
Fushigi Yugi, and belong to Movic/Studio Perrot, Yu Watase. Kamui is  
from X and belongs to CLAMP. This fic is copyright August 2001 and   
belongs to me, Sailor Red. ^_^  
  



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